September 25, 2005

Here is the Jeopardy answer that leads to the correct question "Who cares?"

Under an informal agreement between Mr. Abbas and the militants, a ban on displaying weapons was to take effect later yesterday. It was not clear whether Hamas would honor the deal after the Israeli strikes.

That was from an AP article in the Washington Times. With Hamas showing what a Palestinian state will look like by engaging in rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, it's hard to get worked up over whether Hamas will honor the deal with Abbas not to display weapons. That's like telling the Crips and the Bloods that they can shoot all they want if they simply conceal their firearms.

Meanwhile the BBC moans about the "cycle of violence." (At least the Washington Times article was headlined "Israelis hit back at Hamas in Gaza.") The BBC has a helpful chronology of the cycle of violence, which -- this will surprise you from the BBC -- starts with an Israeli attack: "Israeli troops shoot dead three Islamic Jihad militants in Tulkarm, West Bank, in raids on those suspected of involvement in suicide attacks earlier this year." As a friend of mine says, "It all started when he hit me back."

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